But the owner of a small American company is now fighting with Apple for the right to use a pear in its recipe app.
In a patent application, Apple said the symbol was too similar to its own logo and would damage its trademark.
Monson says the tech giant is “intimidating” and feels a “moral obligation” to retaliate.
More than 43,000 more people have already signed the petition that she and her husband Russ, owners of the Super Healthy Kids website, created last week to verify and pressure the company to step back.
“This is a concrete example of a small business destroyed through a giant monopoly because it has no responsibility,” Monson told the BBC. “It’s so frustrating for us that we thought we had to do something. We can’t just be the next victim on the list.”
Apple responded to a request for comment.
In its submission to the U.S. Patent Office, the company states that the Monsons pear logo “consists of a minimalist fruit design with a right angled sheet, which gently recalls the famous Apple logo and creates a commercial print, as indicated on the next side. -side-by-side comparison .”
It asks regulators to reject the Monsons’ trademark application, which the couple first filed in 2017 on behalf of their prescription application and meal preparation plans, Prepear.
Ms Monson said they were surprised by the comparison. The shape of the pear and the sheet, in which they worked with a designer, was intended to refer to the letter “P” in the application call, he said.
“We had no intention or awareness that he would copy a logo,” he said. “We think about it very exclusively and designed it to be.”
“We were very surprised at first and then I would say that our reaction at the moment definitely scared,” he added. “Like, ‘OK, where are we going from here? What does that mean?
When the couple started making Prepear plans five years ago, they imagined the app as a platform where food bloggers can simply download recipes, which subscribers can simply eat with shopping lists and other features.
They now have about 21,000 active users per month, adding 3,000 consumers who pay the $59 annual fee, according to Monson, a training accountant. The app, as well as the Super Health Kids website, supports five members, adding the pair.
Mr Monson stated that, first, he thought it was a false impression and that either party could resolve the dispute amicably. The logo has been approved in other countries, adding the UNITED Kingdom, without defiance and US patent officials have not discovered any problems, he noted.
As the last step before approval, the patent published its application at the expiration of 2019, which raised Apple’s objection.
“Sounds so ridiculous at first glance,” he says. “You wonder if it’s a joke.”
Last week, when it became clear that this was not the case, the couple spoke on social media, drawing attention to other cases of objections to the Apple logo and pointing out that considerations about legal fees had led them to let one of their workers go. .
Its history has been picked up through the iPhone in Canada and has since spread, drawing new attention to debates about tech giants abusing their powers.
“Honestly, we are defeated by what other people have given,” Monson said. “It’s amazing how many people share the same frustration that led us to accept this audience.”
Some of the other people who contacted submitted legal and design assistance, so Mr. Monson stated that he did not aim to backtrack in the fight in the short term.
“We’ll go all the way, ” he said.